Spring arrived with a gentle breeze in the air that made Remus Lupin think
of warmer days that were to come. The homework had been piling up with
revisions of what was expected to come up on the NEWT tests, yet Remus
still made time to be with his beloved Kat. Day after day, they would meet
in the library or the Gryffindor common room to talk about what was going
on in their lives and sometimes study for their upcoming tests.
"What are your plans for the summer?" Kat asked Remus one evening after classes had finished.
"Relaxing," Remus answered automatically, flashing her a brief smile. "Yourself?"
"Same," Kat replied. "Although there is this Defense class the Ministry is holding for the dark arts." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "It came up in light of those recent events with Voldemort and how he killed twelve wizards, four witches and eight Muggles all in one attack."
Remus nodded sadly; he knew of those attacks all too well. The news had been plastered all over the newspapers less than two weeks ago. "Such a tragedy," he overheard Professor Dumbledore telling Professor McGonagall. "He's got to be stopped; this is utter madness."
McGonagall had agreed but Remus felt a flair of anger rise up inside of him at every mention of the Dark Lord. What he was doing was wrong, there was no doubt. Why couldn't the Ministry stop him? In retaliation, Remus began studying harder for his exams, determined to get the best marks so that he could go on to become an Auror and fight against the dark side.
NEWTs were set to begin in the second week of June. Lily looked especially worried as she crammed heavily for every exam. She forced James and Sirius to go over practice questions with her, but Sirius refused after she had become nervous during a practical examination practice question and almost expanded Sirius' head to the size of a pumpkin.
"You're insane!" he cried, storming upstairs to the boys' dormitory. "Absolutely, utterly insane!"
"I'm sorry!" Lily cried up the staircase tearfully. "I didn't mean to. I'm just so nervous!" She collapsed on the stone steps in a flurry of tears and James tried his best to comfort her without luck. "I don't want to fail," Lily blubbered onto James' shoulder. "I don't want to be held back to redo this year without all my friends!"
"Don't worry," James said cheerfully. "Sirius will probably fail, too."
This comment did not help Lily and Kat took over the comfort zone while James sat in stunned silence. "What did I say?" he finally asked Remus, who shrugged indifferently.
By supper, Lily seemed to have forgotten all about her arguments with Sirius and James and sat with Kat, happily reciting the uses of Patchouli Oil in Potion making. When she recited all of them successfully, she punched the air in joy. "I'm going to pass," she repeated to herself. "I'm going to pass."
"Told you so," James said and Lily stuck her tongue out at him.
Remus tried to plan as many romantic evenings as possible for Kat and himself, but it wasn't easy seeing as he couldn't be out in the moonlight when it was full. Instead, he compensated by having picnics under the stars of the Great Hall ceiling. "This was a great idea," Kat told him one night towards the beginning of June. "I really need this to take my mind off exams."
Remus couldn't agree more. "We'll still see each other in the summer, won't we?" he asked.
For a brief moment, he thought he saw a flicker of doubt behind Kat's eyes. But then she broke into her usual smile. "Of course, silly," she said, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Do you think I'm going to fall off the face of the earth?"
Remus shook his head. "Just making sure," he said slowly. "You really mean a lot to me, Kat." It had been on his mind lately to tell Kat the thing he had known for months now: he loved her. He was so in love with her that he couldn't concentrate on his daily routine. He thought about her all during classes and while he studied in the common room. He thought about her while he was sleeping and during mealtimes in the Great Hall. She was the last thing that he thought about before he drifted off to sleep and the first thing he thought of when he awoke. It was nice to find a girl to care for him like he cared for her, despite his condition. He knew that a love like this could only come once in a lifetime. But he was scared to tell her and kept putting it off.
NEWTs began shortly afterwards and the students collapsed in their common rooms after every one. Lily chattered animatedly for hours after the exam ended, mainly asking what the others got for certain questions and then interrupting herself to answer before the others could even form responses in their heads. Remus felt that Kat was distancing herself from him for some reason, but he couldn't figure out why. He had made plans of having another picnic in the Great Hall after they finished their last NEWTs to tell her that he loved her but with each passing day, he got the feeling that she was trying to avoid him.
"What's going on?" he asked as he cornered her one day after their Transfiguration NEWT. "Why are you avoiding me?"
Her eyes darted away from him, but soon returned to his face, brimming with excitement. "I'm not avoiding you," she assured him. "Where would you get an idea like that?"
He shrugged, feeling rather silly. "It just feels like you don't want to talk to me anymore," he said softly and Kat laughed.
"Don't be silly," she said, kissing his lips gently. He pressed her to him harder, wanting every part of her to be with him. He didn't want her mind to wander any place else, but to concentrate on him and only him. When she broke away from him, he said, "Will you meet me after our last NEWT tomorrow?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts?" she asked. "I think I can do that." She grinned and patted his hand gently. "And I'm not avoiding you," she reassured him once more. "Never think that, not in a million years."
"Meet me in the Great Hall tomorrow after Defense!" he called down the hall after her as she hurried away. She waved her hand to acknowledge she had heard him and blew him a kiss before she disappeared into a classroom. Feeling satisfied with her explanation, he headed off to his own classroom for practice.
After the Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT ended the next day, Remus hurried to the Gryffindor Tower to change and get ready for their romantic picnic. It would be the last of this year and he was dreading being apart from Kat for so long during the summer. She had promised to meet him during the summer several times, but he didn't want to risk that chance for too long. Given her latest attitudes, he wasn't sure what to expect from this night.
The night was beautiful outside, casting a clear, starry night in the Great Hall. Remus handed Kat a bottle of Butterbeer on their blanket that he set out on the floor and they clinked the bottles together. "To us," Kat said wisely, taking a drink out of her bottle. Setting it down on the floor, she stared dreamily at him. "What's it like?" she asked.
"What's what like?" Remus repeated, shaking his head to rid his mouth of the immediate aftertaste of the Butterbeer.
"Running around as a werewolf?"
He paused. This wasn't the exact topic he planned on discussing this night but he decided to humor her. "Pretty dreadful," he told her. "More so than you would think."
She looked stunned. "Really? I would have thought it was somewhat great, having that power over people."
Remus stared at her. "Not exactly," he said, a smile playing on his lips. "Not quite. In fact, it's pretty boring. By the way," he added quickly before she could interrupt him with further questions, "I want to thank you for accepting me as I am. It really means a lot to me."
"Well, I like you for who you are," she told him, holding his hands close to her heart. "I've always liked you for who you are and nothing can change that."
This was his chance. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "There's something I've wanted to tell you for the past few weeks," he said. "Kat, these past few months have been nothing short of perfect. You are the best girlfriend anyone could hope for and I am so lucky that I've found you. I love you for everything you are, everything you want to be and everything you've become. I love you for accepting me as I am and not wanting to change me. I love the way you laugh, the way you smile, the way you look at me. I love everything about you, Kat."
She was quiet for a moment, tracing the blanket pattern with the tip of her finger. "Are you saying you love me?" she teased.
"Do you think?" he retorted playfully. She looked up and there was so much emotion in her eyes that Remus didn't think he would be able to stand it. It wasn't necessarily good emotion, however. There was a sort of pain, inflicted behind her usual warm gaze. A pain that Remus was afraid to see. It wasn't right for a girl like Kat to be suffering inside and not be able to tell someone.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, suddenly concerned for her well being. She looked tired, as though she had been fighting something all day. Wearily, she nodded her head.
"I'm fine," she said and it seemed to Remus as though she was avoiding responding to his confessions of love. His heart began to pound as he searched for a subtle way to bring around the subject again. He hated to think that he had poured his heart out for Kat to view and then have her completely ignore his feelings. It hurt to think that she would do that. But before he had much more of a chance to examine her reaction, she leaned forward and kissed him gently. When they broke apart, she was looking a little livelier. "I love everything about you, too," she told him, nestling her head close to his chest. He looked up at the sky above, thanking his lucky stars that he had found Kat Lawson.
The graduation ceremony was held outdoors underneath the trees by the lake. The wind was whistling gently through the trees as Dumbledore pronounced the class of nineteen seventy-two officially graduated from Hogwarts. Beaming, Sirius led the group to the water where they splashed around for the rest of the afternoon before heading up to their dorms to finish packing for the trip home the next day. Remus took his time in packing, very unwilling to be leaving so soon; it seemed like just yesterday that the school year had started and he didn't want to spend so much time apart from his friends.
"We'll see each other every week," James promised at dinner that night. "You'll see; it will be no different from now."
Lily had tears in her eyes. "How am I going to live without you guys?" she asked, throwing an arm around Kat's shoulder. "Even you, Sirius," she said, turning her eyes towards him, "I'm going to miss you."
"No you won't," he replied cheerfully. "I'll be at your house so much; you'll be begging to get rid of me."
"Trust me," James said, making a face, "it won't take long."
The train was due to leave at eleven the next morning and Remus vowed to get a good night's sleep the night before so he would be well rested for the journey back the next day. Before bed, however, he took one last look at Kat, sitting in the light of the common room fireplace, staring at the leaping flames as though she were mesmerized. There was a faint trace of a smile on her lips and one strand of her hair fell in her face loosely, making her appear more beautiful than ever. Remus went to bed, grateful to have Kat Lawson in his life.
"What are your plans for the summer?" Kat asked Remus one evening after classes had finished.
"Relaxing," Remus answered automatically, flashing her a brief smile. "Yourself?"
"Same," Kat replied. "Although there is this Defense class the Ministry is holding for the dark arts." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "It came up in light of those recent events with Voldemort and how he killed twelve wizards, four witches and eight Muggles all in one attack."
Remus nodded sadly; he knew of those attacks all too well. The news had been plastered all over the newspapers less than two weeks ago. "Such a tragedy," he overheard Professor Dumbledore telling Professor McGonagall. "He's got to be stopped; this is utter madness."
McGonagall had agreed but Remus felt a flair of anger rise up inside of him at every mention of the Dark Lord. What he was doing was wrong, there was no doubt. Why couldn't the Ministry stop him? In retaliation, Remus began studying harder for his exams, determined to get the best marks so that he could go on to become an Auror and fight against the dark side.
NEWTs were set to begin in the second week of June. Lily looked especially worried as she crammed heavily for every exam. She forced James and Sirius to go over practice questions with her, but Sirius refused after she had become nervous during a practical examination practice question and almost expanded Sirius' head to the size of a pumpkin.
"You're insane!" he cried, storming upstairs to the boys' dormitory. "Absolutely, utterly insane!"
"I'm sorry!" Lily cried up the staircase tearfully. "I didn't mean to. I'm just so nervous!" She collapsed on the stone steps in a flurry of tears and James tried his best to comfort her without luck. "I don't want to fail," Lily blubbered onto James' shoulder. "I don't want to be held back to redo this year without all my friends!"
"Don't worry," James said cheerfully. "Sirius will probably fail, too."
This comment did not help Lily and Kat took over the comfort zone while James sat in stunned silence. "What did I say?" he finally asked Remus, who shrugged indifferently.
By supper, Lily seemed to have forgotten all about her arguments with Sirius and James and sat with Kat, happily reciting the uses of Patchouli Oil in Potion making. When she recited all of them successfully, she punched the air in joy. "I'm going to pass," she repeated to herself. "I'm going to pass."
"Told you so," James said and Lily stuck her tongue out at him.
Remus tried to plan as many romantic evenings as possible for Kat and himself, but it wasn't easy seeing as he couldn't be out in the moonlight when it was full. Instead, he compensated by having picnics under the stars of the Great Hall ceiling. "This was a great idea," Kat told him one night towards the beginning of June. "I really need this to take my mind off exams."
Remus couldn't agree more. "We'll still see each other in the summer, won't we?" he asked.
For a brief moment, he thought he saw a flicker of doubt behind Kat's eyes. But then she broke into her usual smile. "Of course, silly," she said, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Do you think I'm going to fall off the face of the earth?"
Remus shook his head. "Just making sure," he said slowly. "You really mean a lot to me, Kat." It had been on his mind lately to tell Kat the thing he had known for months now: he loved her. He was so in love with her that he couldn't concentrate on his daily routine. He thought about her all during classes and while he studied in the common room. He thought about her while he was sleeping and during mealtimes in the Great Hall. She was the last thing that he thought about before he drifted off to sleep and the first thing he thought of when he awoke. It was nice to find a girl to care for him like he cared for her, despite his condition. He knew that a love like this could only come once in a lifetime. But he was scared to tell her and kept putting it off.
NEWTs began shortly afterwards and the students collapsed in their common rooms after every one. Lily chattered animatedly for hours after the exam ended, mainly asking what the others got for certain questions and then interrupting herself to answer before the others could even form responses in their heads. Remus felt that Kat was distancing herself from him for some reason, but he couldn't figure out why. He had made plans of having another picnic in the Great Hall after they finished their last NEWTs to tell her that he loved her but with each passing day, he got the feeling that she was trying to avoid him.
"What's going on?" he asked as he cornered her one day after their Transfiguration NEWT. "Why are you avoiding me?"
Her eyes darted away from him, but soon returned to his face, brimming with excitement. "I'm not avoiding you," she assured him. "Where would you get an idea like that?"
He shrugged, feeling rather silly. "It just feels like you don't want to talk to me anymore," he said softly and Kat laughed.
"Don't be silly," she said, kissing his lips gently. He pressed her to him harder, wanting every part of her to be with him. He didn't want her mind to wander any place else, but to concentrate on him and only him. When she broke away from him, he said, "Will you meet me after our last NEWT tomorrow?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts?" she asked. "I think I can do that." She grinned and patted his hand gently. "And I'm not avoiding you," she reassured him once more. "Never think that, not in a million years."
"Meet me in the Great Hall tomorrow after Defense!" he called down the hall after her as she hurried away. She waved her hand to acknowledge she had heard him and blew him a kiss before she disappeared into a classroom. Feeling satisfied with her explanation, he headed off to his own classroom for practice.
After the Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT ended the next day, Remus hurried to the Gryffindor Tower to change and get ready for their romantic picnic. It would be the last of this year and he was dreading being apart from Kat for so long during the summer. She had promised to meet him during the summer several times, but he didn't want to risk that chance for too long. Given her latest attitudes, he wasn't sure what to expect from this night.
The night was beautiful outside, casting a clear, starry night in the Great Hall. Remus handed Kat a bottle of Butterbeer on their blanket that he set out on the floor and they clinked the bottles together. "To us," Kat said wisely, taking a drink out of her bottle. Setting it down on the floor, she stared dreamily at him. "What's it like?" she asked.
"What's what like?" Remus repeated, shaking his head to rid his mouth of the immediate aftertaste of the Butterbeer.
"Running around as a werewolf?"
He paused. This wasn't the exact topic he planned on discussing this night but he decided to humor her. "Pretty dreadful," he told her. "More so than you would think."
She looked stunned. "Really? I would have thought it was somewhat great, having that power over people."
Remus stared at her. "Not exactly," he said, a smile playing on his lips. "Not quite. In fact, it's pretty boring. By the way," he added quickly before she could interrupt him with further questions, "I want to thank you for accepting me as I am. It really means a lot to me."
"Well, I like you for who you are," she told him, holding his hands close to her heart. "I've always liked you for who you are and nothing can change that."
This was his chance. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "There's something I've wanted to tell you for the past few weeks," he said. "Kat, these past few months have been nothing short of perfect. You are the best girlfriend anyone could hope for and I am so lucky that I've found you. I love you for everything you are, everything you want to be and everything you've become. I love you for accepting me as I am and not wanting to change me. I love the way you laugh, the way you smile, the way you look at me. I love everything about you, Kat."
She was quiet for a moment, tracing the blanket pattern with the tip of her finger. "Are you saying you love me?" she teased.
"Do you think?" he retorted playfully. She looked up and there was so much emotion in her eyes that Remus didn't think he would be able to stand it. It wasn't necessarily good emotion, however. There was a sort of pain, inflicted behind her usual warm gaze. A pain that Remus was afraid to see. It wasn't right for a girl like Kat to be suffering inside and not be able to tell someone.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, suddenly concerned for her well being. She looked tired, as though she had been fighting something all day. Wearily, she nodded her head.
"I'm fine," she said and it seemed to Remus as though she was avoiding responding to his confessions of love. His heart began to pound as he searched for a subtle way to bring around the subject again. He hated to think that he had poured his heart out for Kat to view and then have her completely ignore his feelings. It hurt to think that she would do that. But before he had much more of a chance to examine her reaction, she leaned forward and kissed him gently. When they broke apart, she was looking a little livelier. "I love everything about you, too," she told him, nestling her head close to his chest. He looked up at the sky above, thanking his lucky stars that he had found Kat Lawson.
The graduation ceremony was held outdoors underneath the trees by the lake. The wind was whistling gently through the trees as Dumbledore pronounced the class of nineteen seventy-two officially graduated from Hogwarts. Beaming, Sirius led the group to the water where they splashed around for the rest of the afternoon before heading up to their dorms to finish packing for the trip home the next day. Remus took his time in packing, very unwilling to be leaving so soon; it seemed like just yesterday that the school year had started and he didn't want to spend so much time apart from his friends.
"We'll see each other every week," James promised at dinner that night. "You'll see; it will be no different from now."
Lily had tears in her eyes. "How am I going to live without you guys?" she asked, throwing an arm around Kat's shoulder. "Even you, Sirius," she said, turning her eyes towards him, "I'm going to miss you."
"No you won't," he replied cheerfully. "I'll be at your house so much; you'll be begging to get rid of me."
"Trust me," James said, making a face, "it won't take long."
The train was due to leave at eleven the next morning and Remus vowed to get a good night's sleep the night before so he would be well rested for the journey back the next day. Before bed, however, he took one last look at Kat, sitting in the light of the common room fireplace, staring at the leaping flames as though she were mesmerized. There was a faint trace of a smile on her lips and one strand of her hair fell in her face loosely, making her appear more beautiful than ever. Remus went to bed, grateful to have Kat Lawson in his life.